The revelation will heap more pressure on 2DayFM DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian who have gone into hiding following the tragedy, although the Australian authorities have specified that their investigations will focus on the part played by the radio station and that legally at least, the DJs are in the clear.

Mrs Saldanha, 46, was found hanged in a wardrobe at a staff accomodation block three days after connecting the prank call to another nurse who gave out confidential information.

Warren Clarke, EPA / Landov

The Mail on Sunday also claimed that one of the DJs telephoned the hospital back within an hour of the call and spoke to Mrs Saldanha again, telling her they had played a prank which they planned to broadcast. The hospital has consistently maintained that the radio station did not call the hospital back, as required by Australian law.

In a tribute made in the UK on Saturday, Jacintha’s husband and children described her death as leaving an 'unfillable void'.

The couple's children – Junal, 17, and Lisha, 14 said: “We will miss your laughter, the loving memories and the good times we had together. The house is an empty dwelling without your presence. We are shattered and there is an unfillable void in our lives.”

Meanwhile family and friends of the nurse today gathered in a church in south India for her funeral.

Jacintha's body was kept at her husband's home in the town of Shirva for a few hours before being taken to the church for a prayer service and burial.

Saldanha's husband and two children had accompanied the body from London yesterday.

Jacintha’s family are to receive £320,000 from Southern Cross Austereo, the parent company of the radio station for whom the presenters work.